The University of Tampa Student Health and Counseling Center saw a record-breaking number of students during the month of October. A total of 1,337 students visited the Health Center for “sick visits,” an average of 61 student visits per day.
Two global messages were sent out just in the last week, updating the UT community on the status of H1N1 and seasonal influenza vaccines. According to the most recent global message sent on Nov. 9, seasonal influenza vaccinations are available again, as are still a small number of H1N1 vaccinations and FluMist.
The Health Center began giving out seasonal flu vaccinations in September. The doses the Health Center received were used up quickly, with one-third of these vaccinations going to students. Last week, however, 100 more doses were received. These doses became available to the UT community Tuesday on a first-come, first-serve basis.
According to Sharon Schaefer, director of the Health Center, seasonal flu vaccinations came in early this year so companies could begin to get out H1N1 vaccinations.
Only in the last month has the health center started vaccinating for H1N1. A hundred doses of H1N1 FluMist vaccine, the nasal vaccine, became available Oct. 16 for individuals between the ages of two and 49.
After receiving a first shipment of 100 injectable H1N1 vaccinations, vaccines were made available on Oct. 27 to select priority groups: pregnant women, caregivers of infants younger than six months and health care personnel. Upon receiving a second shipment of 200 doses, the Health Center expanded eligible groups on Nov. 3 to include anyone age 10 to 24 and anyone age 25 to 64 with certain medical conditions or weakened immune systems.
Of the combined 300 injectable H1N1 doses the Health Center received, only 21 were left as of Nov. 6. Of the 100 FluMist doses, 30 were left.
“I was really surprised we didn’t have a big turnout for the flu mist,” said Schaefer. “I was also surprised that the first group of priority for injectables didn’t come in very quickly.”
Schaefer said it was because the first priority group didn’t come in to the Health Center as quickly as expected that they were able to expand giving the H1N1 injectable vaccine to other groups of people.
After H1N1 vaccinations were made available to more groups, the Health Center saw more people come in. On Nov. 3, the first day the vaccine was offered to more of the campus population, 85 people came in for shots.
According to a TBO.com article published Nov. 5, The University of South Florida also just began vaccinating for H1N1. The nearby university, which totals almost 36,000 undergraduates, received a limited supply of H1N1 vaccine. The University of Florida, with a campus of almost 35,000 undergrad students, received only 800 nasal mist vaccines. The University of Central Florida, with a total of almost 43,000 undergrads, received 1,500 doses of the nasal spray.
Schaefer said there is no shipment date yet for the next wave of vaccines, and she expects the Health Center to run out.
“We look everyday,” she said.
Schaefer said the Health Center is registered with Florida SHOTS (State Health Online Tracking System). According to the Florida SHOTS website, the organization is a free, statewide, centralized online immunization registry that helps health care providers and schools keep track of immunization records.
Schaefer said the Health Center registered in order to be eligible to give out vaccinations.
“We check the computer everyday to see where our status is in terms of when they’re getting ready to ship,” she said.
Because the vaccines are distributed by the federal government, there is a certain formula that determines how many vaccinations each health care center receives. Schaefer said once vaccinations are given to individual states, the states distribute the vaccinations to various counties. Population and the amount of vaccines available are weighed, and a percentage of what is available is given to each health care provider.
Schaefer said she recommends all students receive vaccinations.
“The more people we vaccinate, the less likely we are to continue to have this outbreak,” she said.
“More people will be protected and we do know this has been considered a worldwide pandemic, which just means it’s everywhere.”
She added that since the government and the World Health Organization feels it is important to get vaccinated, she would be remised if she weren’t promoting students to get the vaccine.
TESTING
There is no sure way to know exactly how many UT students have H1N1 and how many have the seasonal flu.
According to Schaefer, the Health Center is able to test for influenza types A and B. H1N1 is influenza A virus, but not all influenza A is H1N1. If a patient has influenza A, a specimen can be sent out to a state lab for further testing. Because test results take two weeks to get back, though, few health care centers are sending out specimens to laboratories. Schaefer said most health care centers are so overwhelmed with patients that even hospitals, including Tampa General, are rarely testing.
Schaefer said sending samples to laboratories relates mostly to epidemiology.
“[Testing] isn’t about treating the patient you’re seeing; it’s about seeing where the problem is,” she said.
The Health Center sent some samples to a state laboratory in August, September and October.
Schaefer said some of these samples came back positive for H1N, but not all.
Testing for H1N1, however, doesn’t appear very accurate. Schaefer said that on a good day, accuracy is around 85 percent. If there isn’t a lot of mucus in the sample, though, the accuracy percentage can be a lot lower. Schaefer said many false negatives come back.
STUDENT WELLNESS
Currently, the Health Center is overwhelmed with the number of sick students they are seeing each day.
Schaefer said the Health Center saw high peaks of students in the two weeks before Nov. 6. One day brought in a total number of 64 patients. The highest number of patients the Health Center can usually handle is about 50.
She said she would like to see people with mild symptoms take care of themselves.
“You don’t have to have the Tamaflu to get better with this. The H1N1 virus has been quite mild,” she said. “And the majority of people who have had serious problems as a result of getting it are people who have had other health problems.”
Schaefer said, however, that she understood how students, especially those away from home, could be afraid.
“People get scared… they read or have heard bad stories about people who got it, and they kind of panic,” she said. “You can imagine how many students either have the flu or are worried they might get it or have had their mother say they should come in and get checked.”
Schaefer said the Health Center is trying to control the anxiety level on campus related to the flu.
She suggests students wait to come into the Health Center until they have more symptoms.
Students who come in too soon, she said, often receive false negative test results for influenza.
“Sometimes it’s too soon to know,” she said.
Students who do test positive for influenza are given a mask they are told to wear when their roommates are present. Those who opt to take Tamaflu are required to stay out of classes for five days, though the Tamaflu usually has students feeling better in a matter of two days.
Schaefer said that many students who feel better in two days start to “walk around and go to parties and give the illness to other people.”
She cautioned that students who feel better quickly after Tamaflu should still stay in their rooms for five days.
Schaefer said during the course of the flu outbreaks it has been especially important to communicate and keep people informed. “I usually write one global email a year. I’ve probably written half a dozen already,” she said. “It’s been a very challenging year.”